No it's not downsizing. When 2 companies merge they trim out the fat, it's standard practice. A few pilots(not for long) and planes will be removed. I think they plan on being an all 744 fleet soon. They expect to start buying 744s in 2007. It looks like Polar will take the hit more than Atlas.

That's actually too bad from a spotter's point of view, I always enjoyed seeing the frequent 742's flown by both carriers into MIA, it seems there was always at least one parked next to Le Jeune rd., across the runway from the AA hangar.

Atlas/Polar's plan is to operate a 747-400 fleet. The "Classic" freighters will be returned to lessors or parked within several years. I would assume that in the -200Fs place, 400BCFs would be purchased. You could also see Atlas purchase second hand 747-400Fs from carriers that are switching over to the 747-8F.

"History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or timid." D. Eisenhower

Quoting Viasa (Thread starter):Presently the Atlas/Polar-Group operates roughly 20 747classics (mostly on own business, some wet-leased to other carriers)

The Atlas/Polar mainly operates on behalf of other airlines, so no, they are not operated on own business. Atlas is the largest ACMI cargo airline of the world. Only Polar flies on their own, but almost all Atlas aircraft are operated on behalf of other airlines as they are specialised in ACMI leases. The biggest contract being for the U.S. military.

Quoting Bmacleod (Reply 4):
Polar and Atlas used to fly 747-200s into YHZ to pick up seafood but stopped in 2005 I guess when Icelandic started seafood operations.

I guess now that 747-200s are parked and pilots are laid off, I won't be seeing Polar or Atlas back in YHZ anytime soon.

True, I used to work for PO in AMS. During my time as a customer service/operations agent at PO, we did have scheduled flights from Canada to AMS via Scandanavia to accomodate the popular demand for salmon to Asia. These flights were later dropped due to increased competition in that region and SK Cargo also reported to start similar flights that time using 5Y wet-leased aircraft. This eventually never materialised as far as I know.

Quoting N754PR (Reply 5):
As the two are the same company it should be no problem for them to opeate a 5Y 744F when the need it.

Also true. We used to "lease" aircraft from 5Y whenever needed. As PO is owned by 5Y they can swap aircraft if the need arises even though this appeared to be difficult some times. One problem between these two companies is that they have the same owner (Atlas Inc.) but both companies have very different strategies. They are competitors to each other, which might sound strange but it isn't. 5Y's business strategy is bases on ACMI leases to other cargo airlines. These cargo airlines are their customers while these same customers are actually competitors to PO who operates in the same markets, particularly in Asia.

As for PO getting rid of their Classic 747 fleets, that also doesn't surprise me. When I worked the PO flights in AMS, we had technical problems on a regular basis. Some of these aircraft were just plagued with technical problems on a constant basis. 5Y and eventually PO will have to start looking at 744 cargo conversions as this will be the next step in the cargo industry in my opinion. The 747 Classic just has had its life, even as a cargo aircraft it is just not economical, especially with the increasingly higher fuel prices. More competitors are using modern equipment such as the 744F and 744ERF and even MD11F aircraft. These aircraft are much more fuel efficient.